英米　２年

I had not known anything about Switzerland except for its mountains and Heidi, but today I was very surprised that there are four languages in Switzerland! Japanese speak just Japanese, so I cannot imagine that people who are from the same country speak different languages. Also, before listening to this lecture, I had thought the meaning of studying foreign languages was to communicate. However, he said if you studied languages, you can see problems from different angles and understand people deeply. I was very impressed with that statement and I want to study harder in the future.

英米　２年

In most countries, including Japan, the official language is only one, so it was difficult for me to imagine that there are four official languages. When I imagine my country has some official languages, I can easily come up with many problems. For example, I may not be able to communicate with clerks at the supermarket. I would have many difficulties in daily life. However, Mr. Affolter lived in Switzerland without any trouble, and he mastered four different languages, so I was very surprised. In addition, the country I want to visit the most is Switzerland, so it was a great time to listen to the lecture from a Swiss person. There are a lot of places and things to visit and to see, so I will certainly go to Switzerland someday.

英米 ２年

It was a very calm time and a good lesson today. His English is not that of a native speaker and it stimulated us to listen to it because we usually do not have a chance to hear French-English. I became very interested in Multicultural Switzerland. There it is common to meet people who speak different languages from their own with each other and this is hard for me to imagine. However, that situation works well because people cope with it and are able to handle it. It is amazing to me. And I think it is good that the language education curriculum is carried out tightly. The sentence that “Learning a foreign language is not only to communicate” remains in my mind. He can say that because he had a rich experience through his Gap Year and Internship.

英米　１年

Before Mr. Affolter’s presentation, I had only a vague image about living in a multicultural environment. He said to us that he felt some gaps between people who had a different mother tongue, but he also told us that he could experience many kinds of cultural differences and understand the other cultures, and because of this he got a better understanding of his own country. As a result, his lecture taught me the value of living in a multicultural society and communicating with people who have a different culture than me. Through this lecture I felt my view became wider.

英米　１年

Thank you for your lecture today. I’m really interested in the fact that there are four official languages in Switzerland. In Japan, of course we have only one official language. Recently, English education has spread in elementary schools, but some people are against it because they think it’s too early for children to study other languages before mastering Japanese. But, I think studying other languages early is good for us. In other countries like Switzerland, most students learn many languages before they are elementary school students. I think Japan has to follow the lead of such countries.

フランス　１年

I cannot imagine that there are four official languages in one country because I have lived only in Japan since I was born. So, I think that in a country the nation experiences a global society. It’s exciting! And, I have a question about how TV programs are broadcast in Switzerland. Mr. Affolter’s answer is only one language spoken on one TV channel, for example, French TV programs are broadcast in French. So, I think in Switzerland there are a lot of TV programs for four languages. And I’m concerned about one thing. If there is a disaster in the country, it is difficult to report the news, so the four TV channels need to cooperate with each other.

英米　１年

Mr. Affolter’s lecture stimulated me so much in many ways. I heard there are some different languages in Switzerland and he has experienced speaking many languages every day. This story was beyond my imagination, so I thought the world is so broad and I have to go somewhere and challenge something again. He also told us how we should study English. How many hours every day? How to study in particular? I have some questions like these, but I realize I can solve them with passion for studying English. I want to restart studying English with passion now.

フランス　１年

How exciting today’s talk was! Today I ended up wishing to be Swiss or that at least I could have stayed in Switzerland, a multicultural land, when I was young. Mr. Affolter mentioned the hardships in speaking five languages and even now he said he still gets confused. But for me it’s a problem I really wish I had. I love language because I believe this connects relationships between two different cultures. So, If I could speak more foreign languages, I could make a big circle of connections with many interesting cultures. What a wonderful life I could have!

スペイン　２年

I found that Switzerland is a multicultural country. It is incredible that Switzerland has four languages. I think that it is natural that there are some conflicts among French speakers, German speakers, Italian speakers and Romansh speakers. I think that it is hard to work as a politician because politicians have to speak many languages in Switzerland, as you said. But I think that diversity is important, so I think Romansh should be spoken more in Switzerland.

中国　２年

I didn’t know Switzerland has four official languages. My image of Switzerland is that this country armed neutrality as its national policy. After listening to today’s lecture, not only about Switzerland’s policy, but also about its area, inhabitants, languages and famous things, I absorbed a lot of knowledge. Mr. Affolter speaks four languages, but I think it’s a very difficult thing. This is because when I study Chinese hard, I can’t understand English well. Learning some languages at the same time is what I long to do.